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Experimental Drug Tarceva
Extends Lung-Cancer Survival

Not a Cure, But Treatment
Shows Promise in Test;
OSI, Genentech, Roche Rise

By

David P. Hamilton Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Updated April 27, 2004 12:01 a.m. ET

The experimental drug Tarceva extended survival in lung-cancer patients, a potential boost for a new class of cancer drugs that take specific aim at tumor cells.

Although Tarceva isn't a cure for cancer, the drug potentially offers a new treatment option for terminally ill patients. Tarceva is also the first in a much-anticipated class of new drugs that block a protein called epidermal growth-factor receptor, or EGFR, to show it can...